<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>I don't like hurting my friends by Aragorn_II_Elessar</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120858">I don't like hurting my friends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragorn_II_Elessar/pseuds/Aragorn_II_Elessar'>Aragorn_II_Elessar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Because of Civil War and Infinity War, But critical of Tony, Civil War Team Captain America, Gen, Missing Scene, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Not really anti-Tony in the sense of the word, POV Natasha Romanov, POV Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:47:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragorn_II_Elessar/pseuds/Aragorn_II_Elessar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve tells Natasha why he didn't respond to Tony's outburst. Missing scene.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers &amp; Natasha Romanov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I don't like hurting my friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything else you may recognize</p><p>So this was inspired by a very nice Quora answer regarding Tony snapping at Steve in Endgame.</p><p>Now I'm not anti-Tony, I love him in spite of how he was written in Civil War and Homecoming, and in spite of his off-putting stans, but he has flaws too.</p><p>So if you can't handle Tony just being criticized, click the back button immediately.</p><p>Anyway, hope all enjoy this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Avengers Tower</p><p>Steve was decked out in the suit he used to wear when he was working for SHIELD shortly after the Chitauri Invasion. It felt incomplete without his shield, but he didn't consider himself worthy of it any longer.</p><p>And Tony's rant reminded him why. He didn't know it was Bucky, but he did know it was Hydra. He hadn't looked into it to spare himself, Tony and Bucky any grief from the situation if it ever turned out to be true.</p><p>Maybe he should have told Tony. He hadn't, and so he was a 'liar', he guessed, and he had pushed Tony too.</p><p>But what he'd said, it was almost Hydra-like. Not even almost, it was. It was honestly disturbing hearing his friend whom he still respected (he hadn't called Tony the 'Earth's best defender' for nothing when they'd confronted Ross) spew Hydra's ideology like that.</p><p>He'd pushed Tony yes, and he was wrong to do that, but what Tony said, it was all Tony. Steve didn't implant false thoughts into him or anything, so what Tony said, it came from him.</p><p>And while Steve did agree that he was a 'liar', there were other things he would have spoken out against, but he hadn't.</p><p>"Hey."</p><p>Steve turned to see Natasha walk up to him, now in her suit as well. While Steve would always consider Bucky his best friend, Natasha and Sam were very close to him too, and they had been with him through thick and thin as well.</p><p>"So you finally said a bad word", Natasha quipped and both chuckled. "You're thinking about what Tony said, didn't you?"</p><p>With a sigh, Steve nodded. "Yeah."</p><p>"I found most of it bullshit to be honest", Natasha said. "Why didn't you say anything?"</p><p>"Trust me, there's a lot I wanted to say", Steve told Natasha honestly as he looked at her. ""You had the phone, Tony, why didn't you call?""</p><p>Natasha listened as he continued.</p><p>""We didn't have a spaceship or co-ordinates. You're the one who decided to pick a fight instead of re-grouping.""</p><p>""The rest of us were fighting in Wakanda. I was there for the Avengers, you're the one who abandoned us.""</p><p>Natasha couldn't deny either of those. Tony had decided to go fight Thanos with the worst kind of plan imaginable, and all of the official Avengers were fighting alongside Steve in Wakanda. Tony was the one who'd decided to remain in space.</p><p>""Did you forget what Ultron did the last time you decided you knew better and didn't need to talk to your team-mates?""</p><p>Yes, that was catastrophic, and it was Tony who held the most blame, alongside Bruce. Wanda had some blame too for showing him the vision, but Tony was in perfect control when he'd done what he'd done.</p><p>""I thought you were done discounting human lives because you wanted the freedom to play in your lab without answering to anyone.""</p><p>Harsh, but true. When he'd ranted about 'precious little freedoms being impacted or not', it sounded no different from the man who'd made Ultron without consulting the rest.</p><p>Tony always confused Natasha. Many times, he felt like a great guy who had changed from the self-absorbed billionaire asshole he used to be, and he was a hero for sure, only a true hero would take that nuke into the wormhole without knowing whether or not he'd come back. It was no different from Steve sacrificing himself back in the 40s.</p><p>Both of them were heroes for sure.</p><p>But other times, Tony felt like a whiny man-child who threw tantrums when he didn't get his way, and that's exactly what he was when he'd made the 'double agent' crack on her, which had made her realize she was wasting her time with him.</p><p>In many ways, he was a changed and better man, in other ways, he was the same. How, she couldn't tell, but she knew Tony could and would be better if he tried to just accept responsibility for his mistakes in a proper way, and not in a way that allowed corrupt government organizations to control them in any way.</p><p>"Why didn't you then?" Natasha finally asked.</p><p>"Because I don't like hurting people, and I've already hurt him enough", Steve sighed as they looked at each other. "I made him snap. Sure, what he said is on him, but I am the reason he let it all out. I was an easy target, so he knew he could vent on me. And he has been through Hell. Over 20 days in Space with little supplies, not knowing whether you'd live or die, after losing like that. I couldn't make him feel worse about himself than he already did, even if I am right."</p><p>Natasha gave a smile that seemed….proud? Steve was close to her, but sometimes he didn't get her either.</p><p>"This is why I will always take your side over him", Natasha said as she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a nod. "We have trusted you this far. You have not led us astray."</p><p>Steve smiled in appreciation and nodded. "I wish I was worthy of that sentiment, but thank you, it means a lot."</p><p>With that, the two walked off to the meeting room again where the others were all ready and set to go.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And this is done.</p><p>Some morons (whom I won't name) argued that Tony went on his Hydra rant because Steve pushed him. Well, that's not false, but what Tony said came from him, Steve didn't implant thoughts into his mind or anything, and while I get he was traumatized, that rant was still wrong, and I'd have preferred a proper apology from both Tony and Steve in that scene which accepted that the events in Civil War happened and that both were at fault, but what was done basically validated Tony over Steve, even though Steve was right about the Accords (you can't change my mind, so don't bother trying).</p><p>Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time some other update.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>